St. Vincent Review (2014)

Summary: When Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) is forced to move house with her son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) due to a divorce she doesn’t count on the fact that her new next door neighbour is going to be someone that she will never forget.

On the outside Vincent (Bill Murray) is a grump who has let his house go to ruin, wastes all of his money at the track (which is just one of his many vices), never has a kind word to say to anyone and is usually in the company of his ‘good friend and companion’ stripper-turned-prostitute Daka (Naomi Watts). But when Oliver one day returns home from school after bullies have stolen his key and turns to Vincent for help Maggie finds herself hiring the ‘neighbour from hell’ as her babysitter, something that can only lead to trouble or so it seems.

Over recent years acting legend Bill Murray has become an actor who really knows how to pick a decent script. Sure he will always be remembered for cult classics like Groundhog Day or Ghostbusters but back then Murray also delivered up a dog of a film quite regularly. Flash forward to recent years when Murray has taken chances on films such as The Darjeeling Limited, Get Low, Zombieland and Moonrise Kingdom and they have resulted in him appearing in some of the top films of the years they were released. Well it seems that Murray’s knack of picking the right script has worked again with a role in new comedy St. Vincent.

There haven’t been many comedy highs over the last year or so, and to be honest Melissa McCarthy has sadly been involved in some of the worst of those but St. Vincent is the one comedy that should remind people that every now and then America still knows how to hit an audience right on a funny bone. Add that to the fact that this film also delivers some thought pondering drama and it is easy to see why St. Vincent should be considered one of the films of the year.

The most surprising thing about St. Vincent is that it comes from a relative newcomer to the directing/screenwriting game. Aside from short films the only time that Theodore Melfi has ventured into feature film territory was to deliver the very average Rachel Hunter led Winding Roads back in 1999. Just one viewing of St. Vincent will quickly tell you that the fact that Melfi has delivered a film in the fifteen years since is an absolute crime because this is a gem.

Melfi’s screenplay is clearly one of the best of the year as it makes a completely unlikable character literally a saint. A brief look at Vincent and you would think that he has all the merits to make him a ‘bad guy’ in a film like this. A foul-mouthed and dirty living old man who is prepared to sue a single, struggling, divorced mother over a small amount of damage to a car and a fence is not the kind of character an audience will normally warm to, but such is the power of Melfi’s script that soon you find yourself laughing out loud at Vincent’s crassness and even ‘barracking’ for him as he tries to outrun the loan shark who is desperate to get his money and break some knees. The fact that Melfi has the sense to use his screenplay to give Vincent real characterisation and not just make him a one dimensional character also goes a long way to making this film work.

Supported by such a well written screenplay it is hardly surprising that the cast also comes to the fore in St. Vincent. Melissa McCarthy puts outside some recent poor performances to put in a credible performance in a role where she isn’t called upon to deliver a laugh a minute. Murray is at his exceptional best mixing comedy and drama into a character that seems like he will become a cult cinema favourite.

Young Jaeden Lieberher also puts in a stunning debut, he certainly seems to be an actor who his acting well above his age range, while the film is further enhanced by good acting performances by actors in the smaller roles. Naomi Watt’s is a standout as European prostitute Daka while Chris O’Dowd also puts in a warm, nice performance even though he is skirting thin ice but almost becoming type cast to play Catholic priests in films these days.

There is just so much to love about St. Vincent that this review could go on forever. From its beautifully written script to the fact that it bravely decides to be different to most either comedies on the market, to the fact that Bill Murray puts in a truly memorable acting performance there is just no weakness with St. Vincent at all. Clearly one of the better films of this year St. Vincent also announces the arrival of a filmmaker who is well worth watching in the future.